Taiwan News Quick Take

Staff writer, with CNA

Wed, Feb 20, 2013 - Page 5

EARTHQUAKES

Tremors jolt the nation

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake rocked southern Taiwan at 2:52pm yesterday, the sixth tremor to jolt the nation in the space of about 15 hours, the Central Weather Bureau said. The earthquake was centered 27km north of Pingtung County Hall at a depth of 16.9km, bureau officials said. The strongest tremors, felt at an intensity of 4, were in the county’s Sandimen Township (三地門). Earlier in the day, a series of quakes, ranging in magnitude from 3.4 to 4.5, occurred in different parts of the country. Two of them registered 4.5 on the Richter scale, in Greater Kaohsiung and Chiayi respectively. Bureau official said it is normal for a series of quakes to occur over a short period of time because one temblor can easily trigger another.

EDUCATION

NTU grads prove popular

National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates are still the top choice for businesses seeking to hire workers, an annual survey released yesterday by Cheers magazine showed. In second and third places were graduates of National Cheng Kung University and National Chiao Tung University respectively, the poll showed. Rounding out the top 10 schools were National Tsing Hua University, National Chengchi University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tamkang University, National Taipei University of Technology, National Sun Yat-sen University and National Central University. The poll showed that tech industries prefer Chiao Tung and Tsing Hua university graduates, while the old economy and service industries prefer Cheng Kung university graduates. The finance industry favors graduates of Chengchi university and NTU. The survey was conducted from Dec. 17 last year to Jan. 23 among human resources managers from 646 firms that ranked among the nation’s top 3,000.

SOCIETY

Near miss for local model

Although she made it to the last three, Kate Ma (馬瑙) failed to win the first-ever Asia’s Next Top Model contest, an adaptation of the fashion-themed reality TV show America’s Next Top Model. Ma, 22, and Stephanie Retuya of the Philippines lost out to winner Jessica Amornkuldilok of Thailand in the finale aired on Sunday night. Fourteen contestants from China, India, Japan and other countries competed in the show’s 13 episodes for the title. Ma has been modeling since she was 15. Her father is Taiwanese and her mother is Brazilian. Winner Amornkuldilok, 27, was awarded prize money of S$100,000 (US$80,900), a car and a modeling contract. She will be the face of a Canon marketing campaign and will appear on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar magazine.

HEALTH

Hospital visits increase

The number of people seeking emergency treatment for diarrhea during this year’s Lunar New Year holiday was the highest since 2008, topping 22,000, health authorities said yesterday. An average of between 14,000 and 19,000 people sought emergency treatment for diarrhea during the Lunar New Year holidays between 2008 and last year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Data on such cases were first compiled in 2008. The number of people seeking emergency treatment for diarrhea on the second day of the Lunar New Year hit a six-year high this year, reaching 3,456 cases, CDC data showed. The CDC attributed the spike partly to the highly infectious norovirus that is prevalent in winter, which can lead to outbreaks of viral gastroenteritis as people are more likely to come into contact with each other during the holiday period.